Volunteer child’s play — Playground construction comes to life with community

By AdriAnna Newberry

Photo by AdriAnna Newberry. Chuck Hanley works on a boat during construction of the Soldotna Community Playground last week.

For the Redoubt Reporter

Sounds of construction rose from Soldotna Creek Park along with poofs of wood dust.  The gateway to the busy area of equipment and creation was a tent with tables covered in sign-in sheets and waivers staffed by Zanner Strickland, who greeted everyone who arrived to help. The key to getting inside was to sign a waiver, and anyone under 18 required the additional pass of a parental signature. Once inside, newcomers joined a crowd of volunteers, all working on separate tasks to achieve a common goal — building a playground.

Work on the playground started by accumulating basic materials from April 30 to May 2. There are not many pre-made materials to be seen in the recent construction. Nearly every part of the playground has been brought in, shaped and put together by the volunteers. There was a variety of work to be done, from shaping boats to fencing-in a sandpit to soaping screws for the power tools.

“Ivory works the best, apparently, I’ve been told,” Strickland said.

A worker paints a mural at the playground.

It seems the soap lubricates the screws and makes them easier to drive. Strickland volunteered at the playground every day since May 3, and has done everything except wield power tools, many of which were loaned to the project by members of the community. Volunteers came and went throughout the weeklong community playground build, which usually ran 14 hours a day. There would be a 7 a.m. safety meeting among organizers, and volunteers would start to arrive around 8 a.m.

By the time evening came, supervisors would be “prying people away from tools. They’d work all night if we’d let them. We’re unplugging extension cords saying, ‘You’ve got to go home,’” said Dana McDonald, one of the project organizers.

There was plenty to organize with all the various things to build. Along with the usual sandpit, there’s a train, climbing wall, two boats, a whale tail and a jungle gym shaped like an oil rig. Jerry Rombach and Jeff Twait built a salmon-head tunnel that was decorated by Stephanie Cox and art students from Soldotna High School. The design team for the playground came from New York and talked with area children to find out what they wanted to play on. The result is a playground unique in design and special for its community involvement.

Local artists decorated 17 panels with scenic pictures of wildlife. The pictures are covered with polyurethane to protect them from the elements and are ready to be hung as soon as the playground is completed. Also waiting to be displayed are a number of painted fish-shaped panels, the result of a fundraiser in which anyone who bought a fish could decorate it.

On May 7, Samantha Hill was helping for the third time. She joined the corps of wheelbarrow-pushing and rake-wielding volunteers spreading sawdust. Hill decided to help with the playground because she “(didn’t) really have anything going on at home and decided to spend my time wisely, so I came to help out. My kids could be playing here one day,” she said.

That is a familiar sentiment. Lynne Carter told her children that, while they might consider themselves too old for the playground,

Lynn Carter and Anton Eriksson prepare a board for playground equipment construction.

their kids might come to play there one day. Carter and Anton Eriksson, 14, prepared slats for benches started by Carter’s husband and son. Eriksson and Carter’s son attend Soldotna Middle School together. Carter started volunteering May 4 and her daughter went out for the first time May 5.

“It’s been a real family affair,” Carter said.

Eriksson mentioned that teachers at Soldotna Middle School were giving extra credit to students who volunteered.

With a 14-hour workday and the constant presence of volunteers, it was inevitable that somebody would get hungry. Various organizations supplied breakfast, lunch and dinner. Youth groups from churches and local home-school programs, such as the Interior Distance Education of Alaska, also showed up to help.

More than food and power tools were brought in. Businesses donated the use of equipment and expertise. North Star Paving and Construction surveyed the area and dug almost 300 post holes, and United Rental donated the use of the machinery used to dig and to lift the tall hills of sawdust.

Firefighters went over with two trucks and an ambulance to help out while no other business called, and night security for the playground had police patrols to count on.

The playground at Soldotna Creek Park was designed by local children and built with the labor and time of local volunteers with the use of donated food and supplies. It is for children now and children to come to play on and enjoy. Creating this playground and the memories to go with it has been a real community affair.

AdriAnna Newberry is an intern for the Redoubt Reporter.